No good evidence to support using caesarean section for reducing mother to baby transmission of hepatitis C during labour and birth.
Hepatitis C is a viral infection that causes liver damage. Mother to infant transmission is the commonest route of hepatitis C virus (HVC) infection in children. Most infected children remain well but are at high risk of developing chronic liver problems during adulthood. HCV is transmitted by the mixing of blood or body fluids, and this can occasionally happen during pregnancy, or during labour and birth. The rate of transmission from mother to baby is about 5%. The review aimed to assess whether there was any evidence that using caesarean section rather than letting women labour might reduce mother to infant HCV transmission for women with HCV infection. No trials were found. Hence, there is no evidence to support the use of caesarean section in these circumstances. It is important to consider whether a randomised controlled trial would be warranted and acceptable.